Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU, Hebrew: אוניברסיטת בן-גוריון בנגב‎, Universitat Ben Gurion Banegev, Arabic: جامعة بن غوريون‎) is a public research university in Beersheba, Israel. Ben Gurion University of the Negev has five campuses: the Marcus Family Campus, Beersheba; the David Bergmann Campus, Beersheba; the David Tuviyahu Campus, Beersheba; Sede Boqer Campus and Eilat Campus.

Ben Gurion University was established in 1969 as the University of the Negev with the aim of promoting the development of the Negev desert that comprises more than sixty percent of Israel. The University was later renamed after Israel's founder and first prime ministerDavid Ben-Gurion, who believed that the future of the country lay in this region. After Ben-Gurion's death in 1973, the University was renamed Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Ben Gurion University of the Negev has five campuses: the Marcus Family Campus, Beersheba; the David Bergmann Campus, Beersheba; the David Tuviyahu Campus, Beersheba; Sede Boqer Campus and Eilat Campus.

Ben-Gurion University has five faculties with 51 academic departments and units: Faculty of Engineering Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management.

Ben-Gurion University has six schools: The Kreitman School of Advanced Graduate Studies, the Joyce and Irving Goldman Medical School, the Leon and Mathilde Recanati School for Community Health Professions, the School of Pharmacy, the School for Medical Laboratory Sciences and the School of Continuing Medical Education.

Ben-Gurion University has eight research institutes including: The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, the Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, the Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism, and Heksherim – The Research Institute for Jewish and Israeli Literature and Culture.

The Medical School for International Health is a four year, North American-style medical school that incorporates global health coursework into all four years of the medical school curriculum. It is an English-language collaboration between Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Faculty of Health Sciences and Columbia University Medical Center located in Beersheba, Israel.[1] Established in 1996, the school enrolls more than 40 students per year.[2] Most of the students are from the United States, with several from Canada and other countries.

A joint global health and medical care program was established in 1997.[3]

The Medical School for International Health grew out of collaborations between faculty at Ben-Gurion University and Columbia University.[4]

In 1978 Prof. Alfred Inselberg, then with the Faculty of Mathematics, together with Dr. Sam Bergman and Dr. Avraham Melkman initiated the Computer Science program which by 1982 had attracted more than 200 students. Notably, this was the first university program in Israel where students were taught Pascal, used terminals rather than punch-card machines and where the first Computer Graphics Laboratory in Israel was established. This was the genesis of Computer Science education at Ben-Gurion University which eventually lead to a separate Department of Computer Science.

There are sixty one interdisciplinary research centers at Ben-Gurion University including: the S. Daniel Abraham International Center for Health and Nutrition, the Robert H. Arnow Center for Bedouin Studies and Development, the Ben-Gurion National Solar Energy Center, the Goldstein-Goren-International Center for Jewish Thought,the Esther and Sidney Rabb Center for Holocaust and Redemption Studies, the Edmond J. Safra Center for the Design and Engineering of Functional Biopolymers, the Reimund Stadler Minerva Center for Mesoscale Macromolecular Engineering and the Zlotowski Center for Neurosciences.

Ten international programs are available at Ben-Gurion University including: the Albert Katz International School of Desert Studies, the Medical School for International Health, the Ginsburg-Ingerman Overseas Student Program, the Israel Studies International Program, the Master of Arts Program in Middle East Studies and the Honors MBA Program.